Published 10:45 pm, Friday, February 25, 2011

BRIDGEPORT -- She lost her parents, Tim and Kim Donnelly, when they were gunned down by Christopher DiMeo in their Fairfield jewelry store. Now, DiMeo's lawyers want to keep Tara Donnelly off the witness stand.

In a motion filed late Friday afternoon, DiMeo's lawyers said that if Tara Donnelly testifies it would be "highly prejudicial, confusing and misleading" to the jury.

DiMeo was convicted earlier this month of one count of capital felony and two counts of murder for the deaths of the Donnellys on Feb. 2, 2005, in their Post Road store. The same jury that convicted DiMeo of the crime is scheduled to begin hearing testimony Monday morning to decide if DiMeo should get the death penalty.

Tara Donnelly was to be the first witness called by prosecutors as they begin their case in this penalty phase.

But DiMeo's lawyers, Michael Courtney and Jeffrey Hutcoe, are asking the judge to prohibit Tara Donnelly from taking the stand or at least not testifying about any personal characteristics of her parents other than the fact that they were married to each other.

They claim Tara Donnelly's testimony would "tend to excite the emotions of the jury and encourage them to find the aggravating factor out of sympathy for the victims and their family rather than based on the evidence."

Neither the prosecutors nor the defense lawyers could be reached for comment.

Earlier Friday, a New York judge denied a defense lawyer's motion to throw out a 2001 robbery conviction against DiMeo there. Prosecutors here intend to use that conviction as an aggravating factor for DiMeo to get the death penalty.

Contact Daniel Tepfer at 203-330-6308 or dtepfer@ctpost.com. Follow him on twitter.com/dantepfer